Fenway Park

New British Railways in colour volume for 11th January 2021. Western Region in Warwickshire Fenny Compton to Snow Hill. The author is Andrew Britton. Looks very good.

On Hobby Search Japan the Kato LNER Azuma is the number one seller.

Hobby Search in Japan have listed the Kato Assy parts for the 800 series including body shells, power units etc. These are available for reservation. Check out the list on their web site which is in English.

Very shocked at the news, I met Chris at the NEC in his IXION days. A charming and knowledgeable man. I have watched his O gauge Minerva range develop over the years with interest. The Manning Wardle tempted me as I thought it could be made into a Cambrian Railways locomotive. RIP Chris and condolences to his family.

New books from Lightmoor Press including Volume 10 British Railways the first 25 years. Mid Wales and the Cambrian Coast. Caledonian Railway locomotives: The Classic Years and James Smart of Chalford. The last deals with canal and waterway working on the Thames and Severn canal and associated waterways. There is also Branch Lines to Thetford from Peter Paye. Should be good following his earlier works. Also Volume 2 Of GWR Broad Gauge locomotives Volume 2. Volume 10 is tempting.

Ospreys have played at the Gnoll this season as an experiment to see whether there was more interest from Neath than playing at the remote Liberty Stadium. My wife’s uncle may be tempted but his local side, Resolven RFC come first. Has difficulty supporting his grandson who plays for Glyn Neath. Old rivalries live on !

Coulsdon North in photos 10 and 11, now no more. It was my local station for trips to school all those years ago.

Sad news indeed. I enjoyed a long chat with him at Warley some years ago. Great sense of humour as the containers in the train were marked YING TONG YING TONG DIDDLE I PO and that lead to our chat. Very few modellers of Greek railways are the time, so Baz was a pioneer. RIP Baz, you will be missed. Malcolm

According to the RCTS Volume the first 10 that went to the BR Western Region were in lined black and with larger numerals.

According to the RCTS History of BR Standard Steam Locos Vol 2 78000 was painted in unlined green in April 1961 at Swindon and repainted into lined black at Crewe in October 1964. Allocation 12/1952 Oswestry 04/1953 Machynlleth 05/1963 Nottingham 01/1964 Derby 06/1965 Withdrawn. 78010 12/1953 West Auckland 03/1955 Northallerton 03/1963 Polmadie 05/1963 Motherwell 06/1963 Darlington 11/1963 Farnley Junction 04/1964 Crewe South 09/1966 Withdrawn 78047 10/1955 Hawick 10/1965 St Margaret’s 01/1966 Bathgate 09/1966 St Margaret’s 09/1966 Withdrawn. Hornby list 78000 as Era 5 so does this cover 1961 to 1964? Thanks

Pre ordered 78000 from Derails as it used on Cambrian system for 10 years. Will make a nice contrast with the Bachmann 2 MT 2-6-0.

EPBs in 1966 definitely. The 2 EPBs included some of the South Tyneside units that were sent to the Southern Region.

Looking forward to seeing this develop. Went to Eberbach in 1969, class 050 from Erbach, the branch, and 065 001 on the return. Most trains from Darmstadt terminated at Erbach. From memories it was a V200 from Eberbach to Heilbronn. There were steam workings from Heilbronn on the line including 064. There was a yard in the area between the main line and the branch which contained what looked like old narrow gauge stock. No other info, it’s 50 years ago.

Pre Order deposit or bargain of 2020?

Severn and Wye Volume 5 Lydney Docks is available from Lightmoor Press and has been sent to their stockists. In the Dean Forest Railway Bookshop today. Volumes 4A and 4B of the Gloucestershire Midland Lines South are also available. 4A covers Eastgate Station and the Tuffley Loop, Gloucester Docks, Line to Stonehouse with the Stroud and Nailsworth branches. 4B covers the line to Westerleigh plus the Sharpness Dursley and Thornbury branches. All three are superb with the two all colour albums containing many interesting photos.

Volume 5 is six weeks away from publication according to a Forest Facebook Page. Just in time for Christmas! Volume 3 is being reworked for issue in 2020.

Sorry that the Oxford Rail rep had gone by the time you arrived. I was told that Oxford Rail would be there on Saturday. It was a small table with the J27 in the centre surrounded by the 12T tanks and the BR N7 to the rear. The rep was good answering the various questions that were put to him.

J27 engineering sample on display today on the Oxford Rail stand at the Lydney show. They are are there today only. It it looks good but no photos as before.

Oxford Rail were at the Lydney Show today with a display of some of the 12 T tank wagons, Mobil, Carless, Benzole and Fisons. We were allowed to handle them. Excellent weight and detail and due in November, hopefully. I had had better get my order in to Derails.

At the Lydney show today, there were the covers for Vol. 5 of the Severn and Wye, Lydney Docks, and The Midland in South Gloucestershire Vol. 4A Eastgate to Stonehouse and 4B Stonehouse to Westerleigh. Neil has found more material for these volumes as it was originally to be one volume. The Lydney Docks book will be in the style of the previous volumes, but I understand friendly discussions as to the publisher are ongoing.

Collected my Ruston from Derails today. What a superb model. Looking forward to testing it next week. Excellent service from Little Dan and the team.

CP Portuguese Railways purchased stainless steel coaches and DMUs from Soreframe under licence from Budd. One series of electric locos had stainless steel sides. SNCF also had stainless steel coaching stock as well.

Hobby Search in Japan have a list of Kato Assy parts for reservation on their web site including chassis and bodies etc. For the new RHB items.

Just picked up Westminster from Derails. Surprised how heavy it is, good slow running qualities. Excellent service as usual.

N Gauge plastic models available from Tomytec. Check Model Train Plus in Japan. Nairiichi san is very helpful. Hobby Search are also good but they are closed from 10th August for building maintenance. They will be open later in August. These are later variants of the Nagasaki tram with air con units.